Soul Healer

by J. A. Culican

  “Let's convince her to run away with us so she can make apple pies.” Sade nudged my arm, proud of her joke.

  “Or we could just pay for this and move on.” I smiled and she rolled her eyes at me for blocking her joke.

  I left her and entered the shop, looking for the woman so I could pay. For a small town, the store was packed. It felt like everyone who lived there was present. Something still seemed off, but I couldn't figure out what it. Why weren’t these people afraid?

  “I just saw the pie lady give away free vanilla beans. Something must be done to stop her.” Sade startled me as she leaned in from behind me to whisper.

  I turned around to give her one of my annoyed looks, then turned and stalked over to the desk to pay the merchant, giving her enough coin for all our groceries. As we left the store, the apple pie woman stood at the back of the store, watching us.

  As we walked back to where Beru and the two giants were waiting, I scanned the crowd, uneasy with how everyone was acting. I could see Iri and Astor weren’t back yet. They hadn’t been gone long, but it was making me uncomfortable. Everything about this quaint and peaceful town was making me uncomfortable.

  “I'm starving. I hope no one minds I'm already digging in.” Beru dug through the baskets and settled on grabbing a few carrots and an apple.

  “Eat what you like.” I offered food to both guards as well.

  I waved off Sade’s offer of an apple, looking around the storefronts instead. I wanted to find a pub where we could get some hot food, and eat at a table where someone served us for a change.. We were all exhausted and cooking outside was not something I was looking forward to.

  The others all had a little snack as we waited for the men to come back with the horses and hopefully they’d be able to find a carriage. Beru wouldn’t be strong enough to ride on a horse on his own, no matter what he thought.

  The shadows began to lengthen as the day wore on, but there was no sight of Iri or Astor. I was beginning to get worried, but tried not to let on to the others my concerns.

  “I hope they get back soon. I'd like to get a hot plate in before it's too late. This town isn't that big.” Sade’s eyes widened as a pout crossed her face. “I hope they aren't already eating without us.”

  “They wouldn't do that. They would wait for us.”

  “Unless they thought we’d already ate.”

  “Look- they’re coming now.” Beru walked out past us.

  I followed his gaze, and sure enough, Astor and Iri had just come across the street with three horses and a wagon. They both had ear-to-ear smiles.

  “It's about time,” Sade called out, her impatience clearly audible.

  “Good things require patience,” Astor countered.

  I just shook my head. Sometimes, I felt like I was looking after children.

  “We have come back with some news. You were right to wonder why this town has carried on as if nothing is happening around it.” Iri tied the horses up and lowered the wagon door, so we could throw our packs and the food in it.

  “Somebody spoke to you about it?” I was intrigued anyone would comment.

  “Several people told us the same story. It seems the ur'gel have been leaving the small towns alone and attacking the bigger cities. No one has seen any spiders around here, and there have been no deaths from her poison.” Iri grabbed an apple from the barrel.

  I felt uneasy with the news. Why had the towns been left out of the raids? I couldn’t think of any reason good enough to explain the oddity. It was possible the townspeople could come together and fight against them. Why wouldn't they try to wipe them out as they moved across the land?

  “Seems like an unusual attack plan. They must need the towns for some purpose.” Beru hoisted himself onto the back of the wagon.

  I agreed, but kept my opinion to myself. I didn’t want to feed into the fear I could feel was settling onto our group. My mind raced for any good reason for them to do this. What benefit would they achieve by leaving the small town’s alone except for supplies? But if that was the case, they would have taken the supplies. This town still had a bountiful amount, so clearly that wasn’t it.. And why hadn’t the people from the cities that had been attacked now here, living peacefully?

  “It doesn’t make sense to me either. But you can bet there is a reason for it.” Iri sat down to eat his snack, but his eyes never rested, roaming watchfully over our surroundings.

  “Lots of people spoke to us. They all seemed happy and aware of what was going on in the cities. None of them appeared to fear it happening here,” Astor added.

  “I’d be scared.” I shook my head in disbelief. Something needed to be uncovered. I wasn’t sure we would find out before we left, but we needed to talk to more people. Someone had to fear their town may be attacked at any time.

  “I wouldn’t.” Sade was most disagreeable lately. I wondered why. It seemed she was just disagreeing with me to disagree sometimes, so I didn’t bother to question her. I didn’t want the townspeople hearing our conversation, but a talk about her mood later was way overdue when I had a chance to catch her alone.

  “Let’s just keep our eyes open. This is the first town we reached, after all. Let’s see what the others have experienced. Sooner or later, someone will talk.” Iri ate every bit of his apple, his face unconcerned but his eyes watchful.

  “You know there’s cyanide in apple seeds.” Sade watched him lick his fingers.

  “Interesting fact for you to know.”

  “Well, you never know when you’ll need it.”

  As their conversation continued, I blocked them out and focused on the storefront with the merchant woman. She was standing out front watching us, her arms crossed with a stern look on her face. It was completely different than the friendly attitude earlier in the store. What was her issue? When she noticed me watching her, she turned to talk to one of the customers. Something wasn’t right there, but I didn’t have time to figure it out.

  I turned my head a little, listening in again to the light banter between Sade and Iri as they traded knowledge about foods that would kill you. Sade seemed to take immense pride in her knowledge, and he was finding it entertaining. For a moment, I thought about the two of them—how close they’d become after he almost died. That closeness was no longer there, and I wondered what had happened between them. It wasn’t my business, but the two of them together always seemed right to me.

  “You look deep in thought.” Beru sat down next to me, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around them.

  “Just thinking about our next steps.” I kept my head straight, still unable to look at him. Every time I looked into his eyes, I was back in the village trying to get him to look away. I shook my head and attempted to force the thoughts out. I wasn’t going to help him get over it by dwelling on it myself. “How are you feeling?”

  “Getting used to this vastly different world. I don’t feel like myself anymore.” He picked up a rock and rubbed his thumb over the smooth side.

  “Give yourself time.” I turned to offer a smile of encouragement, but all of his attention was on the rock. I watched how intense his gaze was, wondering what he was really thinking.

  “What did you say?” He glanced over at me just as my eyes had begun to wander over his body.

  I turned away quickly, but it wasn’t fast enough. “Nothing.”

  “This town is too quiet. It’s not right.” He threw the rock down and stretched out his back.

  “I don’t think we’ll will figure it out before we leave, though.” I stretched out my legs and rubbed my knees, my hands somehow feeling awkward and useless.

  “It’s the calm before the storm.” His eyes focused on something in the distance, and he appeared to be in a daze, almost like he was reciting something.

  “What do you mean?” I tried to see what had captured his attention so completely, squinting toward where his gaze had traveled.

  “Something big is coming, and Dag’draath is behind i
t.” His voice sounded hollow, as if it wasn’t him speaking.

  “How do you know that?” I debated shaking him to loosen the hold of whatever had taken him over, but I held back, hoping he had information we could use.

  “He’ll coax you into the open.” Beru turned to me, his eyes different than his usual warm brown, a shimmery, silver sheen coating them so that they almost glowed.

  I had stared into his eyes so many times, I knew this wasn’t him. Or at least, not just him. Was this part of what the high priestess had said about him being the key? Was it a warning? I couldn’t find the right words and didn’t want to chance interrupting if he had more to say. I could only watch, and take note of his warning. I glanced back at my crew, and hardened my resolve. I needed to protect them from Dag’draath.

  Chapter 6

  “There are no children here. Have you seen any children?” Sade looked at all the people passing by us on the sidewalk.

  I turned around and looked up both sides of the street. She was right. No children were playing or running around. What a curious observation. Where could they all be?

  “That’s fine with me.” Astor laughed. “I’ve never known why so many people feel the need to have those greedy little creatures.”

  “You know, you were once a child too, likely far more irritating than most.” Sade rolled her eyes.

  Leave it to Astor to have an unpopular opinion. I smiled, part of me wondering not for the first time if he said such things simply to get everyone going. I half expected him to wink at me.

  “It is peculiar.” Iri weighed in. “Unless maybe they are in school. ”

  “Maybe, but we should have seen at least one by now. Some surely are too young for school.” We’d been there most of the day and I was annoyed with myself I hadn’t noticed something so obvious before she’d mentioned it.

  “Let’s ask them.” Iri walked over to someone on the side of the street while we hung back.

  As we waited for him to return, I looked at Beru. He’d been keeping to himself since we last spoke, and appeared to be deep in thought again, oblivious to our conversation.

  I turned my attention back to Iri. He’d already moved on to another person, but they were ignoring him as they brushed past, head turned away..

  “That’s not friendly or happy.”

  Iri approached person after person, but none of them stopped to talk to him other than a typical greeting.

  “Maybe it’s his stature. He is rather large,” Astor suggested. “Can we eat now? I’m about to pass out. Can this missing child thing wait?”

  “No, it can’t wait.” I scowled, hoping he wasn’t too blind to see how annoyed I was getting with him.

  Astor loved to play the jester, but his antics had a place and a time, and this wasn’t it.

  “He’s coming back now,” I warned the group.

  We anxiously waited for him to return to us. His face was grim and his tall body hung forward in a slump.

  “Have you solved the mystery?” Astor called out , his primary motivation being food.

  Iri didn’t comment until he was almost upon us. “Everyone was friendly until I asked about the children. Then, no one had time to talk to me.” He shook his head, clearly perplexed.

  “Happy, friendly people without children? Seems sane to me. Let’s go eat now.” Astor tried to pull us in the direction of the local pub.

  “What did they say when you asked?” I demanded, mostly out of frustration with Astor’s attitude.

  “That they were busy and didn’t have time to talk. They all said the exact same thing.” Iri scratched his head and turned back to the road. “I don’t understand it. It’s like they were reading some sort of script.”

  I wasn’t sure if Dag’draath was behind this or not, but something was amiss.

  “Let’s ask Ms. Apple Pie.” Sade walked past me to the storefront.

  As I watched her leave, my eyes drifted back to the store, and the lady was standing outside again, staring at us. She turned to leave when she saw Sade walking toward her.

  Something was definitely wrong, and I had a feeling Sade had it right by starting with the shop owner to find answers. I took off at a slow jog to catch up with her.

  “Be careful, she may offer us a pie.” Sade chuckled when I joined her.

  “You can’t still be joking about this. There’s too much going on for something not to be happening here.” I was almost fuming at how she was acting since we’d arrived in the town. Was she purposely trying to get under my skin? And if so, why?

  “Just let me do the talking. You’re too intense.” She opened the door and walked over to the woman, who was standing at the back of the store sorting merchandise.

  She turned to us and looked surprised as we continued to advance on her. “Can I help you?” She turned on the practiced smile of a shopkeeper. It didn’t reach her eyes..

  “Yes. We were wondering if you had any more of those apples you mentioned before.” Sade smiled at her sweetly, turning to me and raising her eyebrow.

  “There are some out front in the bins.” The woman smiled again, smiled and then turned her back on us.

  It was clearly a dismissal, but Sade wasn’t having it.

  “No, the other applies.” Sade tapped on her shoulder, and she turned back toward us.

  “I’m afraid I don’t follow you. There are apples out front.” She pointed to the front door, then went back to sorting goods.

  “Why are there no children here?” she blurted, to the woman’s back as she wasn’t looking at her now. .

  “Excuse me?” The lady appeared to be confused at the unrelated question, but at least turned slightly to look at her. .

  I sighed at Sade’s blunt approach. And she said I was the intense one? Any real chance of the woman talking freely was probably gone now. There was no way she hadn’t been turned off by the way Sade had asked her questions. “She means it’s curious we haven’t seen any children out playing.” I smiled ingratiatingly, trying to appear as charming as I could.

  “I don’t know what you mean. There are children here. I don’t keep track of all their whereabouts, so forgive me if I can’t say where they all are on your visit to our town. . I must get back to work. If there is anything else you need, please see the shop girl behind the desk.” This time, the woman left through a door in the back, her skirts whirling as she made a speedy exit.

  “That doesn’t sound fishy at all.” Sade turned to leave the store.

  I followed her out and noticed everyone in the store watching us. They all had a sombre look to them, as if we were there to hurt them or take something away from them.

  “I’m going to find out what’s going on here, one way or another!” Sade proclaimed the words as if they were a solemn quest as we made our way back to the men.

  “Oh, really? How do you propose to do that?” I had to run to keep up with her longer stride.

  “I don’t know yet.” She stopped suddenly, and I almost ran into her. “Someone will tell us. We just have to find the right person.”

  “Any luck?” Iri walked out to meet us.

  “No. Just more questions.” I looked around. The townspeople nearby were all watching us. They weren’t the happy-go-lucky people we’d found when we arrived. Now, they were watching with a combination of suspicion, fear, and anger. A nervous shudder crept over the back of my neck and I rubbed it, trying to make it go away.

  “Let’s head to the pub. Loose lips and all. Better to find a more private place to discuss this.” Iri waved the others over to where we were standing in the road.

  This time as we walked along the boardwalk, people moved out of the way. Some even crossed the road. Everyone avoided eye contact. It was clear they didn’t want to talk now, which was odd. Before we’d asked about children, everyone had been friendly and gracious. .

  “There’s a pub just past that horse stand.” Astor pointed ahead of us.

  “I hope we’re allowed in.” I mumbled, glanci
ng at the townsfolk around us with a wariness I hadn’t felt a few moments earlier.

  “We’re close to finding out, I’m sure of it.” Astor marched ahead of us, and we followed in silence.

  I looked over my shoulder toward Beru, who’d kept to the back of our little pack. Sombreness emanated from him as he shuffled along the boards beneath his feet.

  We filed into the pub and were greeted warmly by the barmaid, who took us to the back of the pub and seated us at a booth. To my relief, it was entirely private from the rest of the eatery, and afforded us a break from the uncomfortably watchful eyes that had been following us. She handed us the menus and excused herself.

  “As far away from everyone as we could hope to be.” Sade stewed in her seat, glowering at the waitresses back. She appeared to be less thrilled about the seating than I was, which was weird. She’d always preferred being solitary until hooking up with me.

  I turned my attention to my friends. Each of them was looking at the menu in front of them, practically drooling.

  “I have the urge to get her to test whatever they bring out.” Sade looked around for the barmaid.

  “I’m sure everything will taste fine.” I looked at my menu, wrinkling my nose as I considered the selections.

  “Yeah, we aren’t children, so we’ll be fine.” Astor didn’t look up.

  The barmaid returned with a tray full of water. “This should start you all off. Shall I bring out our best wine?”

  “Yes, please!” Astor spoke up eagerly.

  “Do you know what you’d like yet??” The girl twirled a strand of long blonde hair as she spoke.

  Everyone answered at once, hungry from our eventful day.

  The barmaid leaned over and grabbed my menu from my hand. “Act normal.” Her voice was low and she smiled innocently, batting her eyelashes for the benefit of whoever was watching.. “Everything is great, and I’m telling you what’s on the menu.”